Transparency and the KK Principle

An important question in epistemology is whether the KK principle is true, i.e., whether an agent who knows that p is also thereby in a position to know that she knows that p. We explain how a “transparency” account of self‐knowledge, which maintains that we learn about our attitudes towards a proposition by reflecting not on ourselves but rather on that very proposition, supports an affirmative answer. In particular, we show that such an account allows us to reconcile a version of the KK principle with an “externalist” or “reliabilist” conception of knowledge commonly thought to make that principle particularly problematic.     

Dimensions of religious/spiritual well-being and schizotypal personality

Dimensions of religious/spiritual well being (RSWB; such as hope, forgiveness, or general religiosity) have been examined comprehensively, and its positive relation to subjective well-being has been confirmed. However, there also might be facets of RSWB linked to mental illness (e.g. delusional ideas). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between different dimensions of RSWB, magical thinking as an indicator of schizotypy and Eysenck´s three personality factors (psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism), as there might be facets of RSWB also linked to mental illness (e.g. delusional ideas). One hundred and two undergraduate students (53 female, 49 male) completed the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (MI-RSWB), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire in short version (EPQ-RK) together with the Magical Ideation Scale. Results indicate that facets of RSWB based on magical thinking could also be understood as neurotic symptoms. This underlines the hypothesis, that there might be pathogenetic as well as salutogenetic aspects of religiosity/spirituality associated with personality and subjective well-being.     

Employability and Employees’ Well‐Being: Mediation by Job Insecurity1

The current study's aims are twofold: first, we investigate the relationship between employability and both work‐related (engagement) and general (life satisfaction) well‐being. Second, we study how employability may be relevant in times of high job insecurity. Specifically, we hypothesise (1) a positive relationship between employability and employees’ well‐being, (2) a negative relationship between employability and job insecurity, and (3) a negative relationship between job insecurity and employees’ well‐being, so that (4) job insecurity mediates the relationship between employability and employees’ well‐being. Results based on a sample of 559 respondents from divisions of seven Belgian organisations support our hypotheses. We conclude that employability may be a means to secure one's labour market position, rather than a means to cope with job insecurity. Les objectifs de cette étude sont doubles: nous étudions d’abord la relation entre l’employabilité et à la fois le bien‐être relatif au travail (implication) et le bien‐être global (la satisfaction provenant de l’existence). Ensuite, nous nous interrogeons sur la pertinence de l’employabilité en période de grande insécurité professionnelle. Plus précisément, nous posons les hypothèses 1) d’une relation positive entre l’employabilité et le bien‐être des employés, 2) d’une relation négative entre l’employabilité et l’insécurité professionnelle et 3) d’une relation négative entre l’insécurité professionnelle et le bien‐être des salariés, si bien que 4) l’insécurité professionnelle régule la relation entre l’employabilité et le bien‐être des salariés. Les résultats issus d’un échantillon de 559 répondants provenant de départements de sept organisations belges confortent nos hypothèses. On conclut que l’employabilité peut être une façon de sécuriser sa situation sur le marché du travail plutôt qu’un moyen pour affronter l’insécurité professionnelle.     

The Guise of the Bad in Augustine’s Pear Theft

In the second book of his Confessions, Augustine of Hippo presents his famous juvenile Pear Theft as an apparent case of acting under the guise of the bad. At least since Thomas Aquinas’ influential interpretation, scholars have usually taken Augustine’s detailed discussion of the case to be dispelling this “guise of the guise of the bad”, and to offer a solid “guise of the good”-explanation. This paper addresses an important challenge to this view: Augustine offers two different “guise of the good”-explanations in his text rather than just one, and the two explanations seem to be mutually exclusive. A number of more recent attempts to reconcile Augustine’s two lines of explanation are discussed and found wanting, and a new suggestion is made. The proposed solution focuses on the Pear Theft as a joint action, and it departs from the Aquinian interpretation in that it accounts for a way in which the “guise of the bad”-hypothesis survives the explanation.     

Reappraisal inventiveness: impact of appropriate brain activation during efforts to generate alternative appraisals on the perception of chronic stress in women*

Background and objectives: Previous research indicated that more left-lateralized prefrontal activation during cognitive reappraisal efforts was linked to a greater capacity for generating reappraisals, which is a prerequisite for the effective implementation of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life. The present study examined whether the supposedly appropriate brain activation is relevant in terms of more distal outcomes, i.e., chronic stress perception.

Design and methods: Prefrontal EEG alpha asymmetry was recorded while female participants were generating reappraisals for stressful events and was correlated with their self-reported chronic stress levels in everyday life (n?=?80).

Results: Women showing less left-lateralized brain activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during cognitive reappraisal efforts reported experiencing more stress in their daily lives. This effect was independent of self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions.

Conclusion: These findings underline the practical relevance of individual differences in appropriate brain activation during emotion regulation efforts and the assumedly related basic capacity for the generation of cognitive reappraisals to the feeling of being stressed. Implications include the selection of interventions for the improvement of coping with stress in women in whom the capability for appropriate brain activation during reappraisal efforts may be impaired, e.g., due to depression or old age.